Victim of a bigamous marriage, Jessie returns to her parents’ home in the Hudson River Valley, to heal. Indoctrinated since childhood in fairy tales with happy endings, her spirit and view of life are severely scarred, especially regarding the story of Cinderella and Prince Charming. She’s sworn off any future relationships. “Cinderella Ice, that’s what I’ll be from this day forth.”

PREFACE

At the age of nineteen, the Carlson’s younger daughter, Jessie, eloped with Walt, a ranch hand she had met in her early teens during her visits to the Driscolls’ ranches. Her mother, Cybelle Carlson, was Leatrice Driscoll’s best friend and their love stories were legendary among their family members. Growing up, Jessie was always a fan of her mother’s and Leatrice’s persistence and success in winning the hearts of the men they chose to love and marry. Jessie believed herself capable of the same — like mother, like daughter. In her haste and immaturity, she didn’t look past Walt’s looks. When Walt responded favorably to her advances, she thought she’d followed in her mother’s footsteps and won the man she wanted. Too late did she come to know the real Walt and why he fell so easily for the tomboyish, naive teenager in pigtails who had followed him about like a lovesick puppy dog. It took only three months into her marriage, to realize the only reason Walt had responded to her advances, was because he craved the foreman’s job on the Driscolls’ ranches.

The Driscolls were aware of Walt’s hankering for the foreman’s job. Walt was their top ranch hand. Out of friendship and respect for the Carlsons and their daughter, and to appease Walt for not choosing him for the position, they deeded a parcel of their combined ranches to the newly married couple, as a wedding present, in their opinion, a far better offering than the foreman’s job. They had no idea of Walt’s devious nature that he hid well under the guise of an amiable worker who simply wished to better himself .

Walt didn’t want a small ranch to work hard and build upon, and watch the resulting fruit of his labors over the years grow into a successful, profitable horse or cattle ranch, one to be proud of, for himself, his wife and his offspring. He wanted the foreman’s job on the Driscolls’ already successful and profitable horse and cattle ranches. He’d been slighted, he raged inwardly, and deprived of the effortless lucrative possibilities associated with being the foreman and son-in-law of the Driscoll’s closest friends. Alone with his wife, his true nature surfaced. Right to her face, he told Jessie the real reason he’d married her, and how sick he was of her cloying adolescent affection. Hurt and disillusioned, Jessie’s rose-colored glasses shattered. But reality wasn’t finished with her. She woke in the morning to find Walt missing. On his side of the bed, a two-sentence note, brusque and to the point. “I’m gone. Don’t look for me.” All the same, Jessie waited for him, hoping he’d miss her love, or at least reconsider the chance to make something of the ranch gifted to them. For her sake and the undeserved love she continued to harbor for Walt, Seth and Leatrice kept her ranch going. For two years she waited, with never a word, until one afternoon, the Driscolls brought to her authenticated documents, proving that when he married her, Walt had a wife and two children under another name. Her parents and the Driscolls immediately set about clearing her name and the bigamous marriage. An arrest warrant was issued for Walt. But he had disappeared. Jessie was free. At least in name. But her spirit, and her view of life and the pursuit of happiness, were severely scarred. She swore she would never trust a man outside of her own family, or allow herself to feel attracted to one again. She’d grown up with rose-colored glasses, indoctrinated since childhood in fairytales with happy endings. Especially the story of Cinderella and her Prince Charming. She had scoffed at the new trend in children’s fairy tales that showed the independent heroine who often saved the hero, instead; the heroine who didn’t actually need the hero to find her happiness, even when she chose to marry him and one day become his Queen and share in his wealth and title. Jessie made up her mind. Cinderella Ice. Like the Snow Queen. Yes, that’s what I’ll be from this day forth — Cinderella Ice.

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About dorothypaula

Come into my world of adventure, romance, inspiration, nostalgia, science fiction and fantasy, time travel, and the paranormal, and sensual clean romances (rated "G" and "PG"). You will find it all in E-books and Paperbacks by Paula Freda.
http://www.angelfire.com/falcon/dpfenterprises.com/
Paula Freda, homemaker, mother of two grown sons, and former off-the-desk publisher of a family-oriented print small press, (1984 thru 1999), The Pink Chameleon, that she now publishes on line, was raised by her grandmother and mother, and has been writing for as long as she can remember. Even before she could set pencil to paper, she would spin her stories in the recording booths in the Brooklyn Coney Island Arcades for a quarter per 3-minute record. She states, "I love the English language, love words and seeing them on display, typed and alive. A romantic at heart, I write simply and emotionally. One of my former editors kindly described my work, '...her pieces are always deep, gentle and refreshing....'" Among the print publications in which her work has appeared are D'Youville Poetry Anthology, Clover Intl Poetry Competition, Small Press Writers & Artists Org. (SPWAO) Showcase II 1984, Nom de Plume, Labyrinth (1984), Harlequin Digest (a quarterly sent to Harlequin book subscribers during the 1980s), The Sacred Heart Messenger, Standard, Affaire De Coeur, Mid Island Times (hometown newspaper). On line, Peridot Books, The Romantic Bower, Romance and Beyond, and Alternate Realities. During February 2001 she taught an online class on writing at Topica.com. From 1985-1994 she coordinated writers clubs at two of her local hometown libraries. She further states, "I love writing, despite that I still have much to learn, and am grateful to any editor who takes the time to help me improve my skill. Although I've no fancy that I will ever be famous, or even want to be, my hope is that my writing will bring entertainment and uplift the human spirit. If someday in the future, someone reads my work and feels the better for it, then I have fulfilled myself."

Thank you! I just wish I could write as well as you do. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I enjoyed your book, The Earl’s Wallflower Bride and gave it a 5 star rating. In case you missed my review, here it is again. “Ruth has done it again! A beautiful romance! I love the way she gets into the characters’ thoughts, the heroes and villains. I was hooked from the very first page. Strong in this book, as with all her writing, is the theme of true beauty within outweighing the physical. The love scenes between husband and wife are geared for the mature, respectful, sensitive adult. The plot was well developed and interesting. There was mystery, action, and adventure in this book. One scene I particularly wish to compliment Ruth Ann Nordin, the scene where the villain and villainess get their comeuppance by their own hands. Wow! A twist they didn’t expect, and neither did I. Very well done!”❤🙂

Thank you! I just wish I could write as well as you do. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. I enjoyed your book, The Earl’s Wallflower Bride and gave it a 5 star rating. In case you missed my review, here it is again. “Ruth has done it again! A beautiful romance! I love the way she gets into the characters’ thoughts, the heroes and villains. I was hooked from the very first page. Strong in this book, as with all her writing, is the theme of true beauty within outweighing the physical. The love scenes between husband and wife are geared for the mature, respectful, sensitive adult. The plot was well developed and interesting. There was mystery, action, and adventure in this book. One scene I particularly wish to compliment Ruth Ann Nordin, the scene where the villain and villainess get their comeuppance by their own hands. Wow! A twist they didn’t expect, and neither did I. Very well done!” ❤ 🙂

You have a sweet tone in your stories that I don’t. You also manage to tell a full story in less words than I do. 🙂

I didn’t see the review. I appreciate it, but you know, you don’t have to leave reviews on my books. 🙂 I think Amazon is starting to crack down harder on authors leaving reviews. At least that is the word in some of the writing circles I’ve been around on Facebook. I’m not sure how much validity is to that, but I’m afraid to leave reviews over there anymore.

The Earl’s Wallflower Bride was really exciting for me because I got to slip in a genre I don’t often get to explore: psychological thriller. I grew up watching those with my mom, so it’s a nice “take back” to my childhood. (My mom is now in Heaven. It’s nice to have things to remember her by.)